Another Tough Night At KeySpan

I went to my fourth Brooklyn Cyclones game last night at KeySpan Park, and the Cyclones starter was none other than Alay Soler, the young Cuban who defected to the US a few years back. Soler (pictured) has shown flashes of brillance with the Mets this season, pitching a two-hit shutout in Arizona earlier this season. Soler was on an injury rehab start for the Cyclones, and figures to be back with the Mets very soon.

Soler pitched extremely well last night. I was sitting about six rows off the field just off of home plate. Soler was mixing his pitches very well, and his fastball was popping. He struck out nine Hudson Valley Renegades in 4 2/3 innings, but gave up three runs on three hits including one home run.

Hudson Valley (Tampa Bay's team in the NYPL) went on to win, 6-0, as it was a bad night for the Cyclones. They had just two hits and made four errors. They are currently in second place in their division with a good shot at a wild card berth in the New York-Penn League playoffs.

The Cyclones are 0-4 in games I've seen this year. In 2004, I saw them play 11 times, and they went 11-0. Funny the way things work sometimes.

I listened on the radio to the Mets game as the Cyclones were going down. Great comeback last night, as they came from 7-1 to win 8-7, on Carlos Beltran's ninth inning shot off Jason Isringhausen. My dad had just said to me, "I hope the Mets pull this one out in the ninth on a two-run homer." And a minute later, there it was. His reaction to that was, "The Mets are going to win the World Series!!"

I watched the latest Red Sox loss on the MLB package last night. Once again, the clutch hitting escaped them. Coco Crisp led off the game with a double and was left at third. Bases loaded with none out in the second and they came up with nothing.

Well, at least the Yankees, Twins and White Sox all lost.

I'll be at Professor Thom's for tonight's late-night Red Sox game, and it's also Bingo Night. Gotta support the boys and my favorite watering hole, no matter what the American League standings might look like.